A few months back, I took a look at NZXT's new Hale82 line of units for the first time when I tested the 850 watt model in that line. Despite sharing an otherwise solid Seasonic platform with units like the Silver Power SP-S850M and the Corsair TX750 V2, it exhibited some rather disappointingly high ripple... but only when hot tested. None of the other units I'd seen using this platform had done this, and I could only speculate as to why.

Well, today I have the 750 watt model on my bench for testing. We're going to see if it suffers the same fate as its big brother.

A completely new PSU designed from the ground up for gamers and enthusiasts, eh? Well, it may have been new in January, when I tested big brother, but now we're into July. Seems a mite less new to me now.

Strong single +12V rail - Delivers stability and ease of use to deliver clean currents under a heavy load

Modular design - Offers a selection of flat cables that allows you to use only necessary cables needed for your devices to maximize cable management and increase airflow inside the chassis

Large tower support - Extended cables for bottom mounted or large cases

Dual 8pin connectors - For high end motherboards dedicated to overclocking

Keep it Safe - Protection that covers: over voltage, current, power, temperature, under voltage, and short circuits

And there's even more marketing on this side of the box, thanks to a list of features:

80 Plus Bronze Certification

SLI and Crossfire Ready

Highly Reliable 105°C Japanese Capacitors

Solid State Capacitors

120mm Two-Ball Bearing Fan

Over Current, Voltage, Power, Temperature Protection

Under Voltage Protection

Short Circuit Protection

Active PFC

Modular Cables

5 Year Warranty

I really have to ask... do we need protection from Short Circuit? I mean, it is kind of a cheesy movie even for the eighties, but still... can't we just use the remote and change channels or something when it's on? And come on, now, you have to watch long enough to see the Three Stooges routine with robots.

Fortunately, the box is running out of marketing, as we see here. That means we can get on to the good stuff.

Let's do some unpacking.

A donkey, some walnuts, a small bag of pine cones, three tons of fertilizer, some gravel, and a can of soda. These are some of the items not found in the box. What did I find in the box? The stuff you see in this picture: a power supply, power cord, bag of screws, user guide, and some modular cables with carrying bag.

Here's the user guide. Not the best, not the worst, just kind of in between.

As always, I do like me some matte black paint job.

Another angle.

Looks pretty well the same as big brother, so far.

Only one side has this NZXT logo. Want me to prove it? Here, let's see what Mr. Fuji has to say.

See? No NZXT on the other side.

The fan. Nice contrast between the black and the white colors, here.

Other than the 12V power rating, there's really no difference in the specs between this unit and the 850W model.

NZXT Hale82 750W

+3.3V

+5V

+12V

-12V

+5VSB

25A

25A

62A

0.5A

3A

Max Power

150W

744W

6W

15W

750W

Here's a peek at the modular connectors.

Now, the hardwired cables. And there's kind of a lot of them, for a 750W unit. Do we really need four PCI-E connectors hardwired in? An 850W, I could see it. But this is not an 850W.

Finally, the modular cables. And you know what? I don't see another 8 pin CPU connector. The box was wrong on that point. I also don't see any adapters for 3.5" connectors, but that's ok. We've got to be just about rid of devices that require those by now. And really, good riddance. You know how easy it is to plug those in wrong? Ask the many users who have plugged them in one pin off and had the wires flame out because of it.